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Monday, November 16, 2009

Collaborator CXI, a Pumpernickel Ale

Folks, I wanted to mention that the 11th-Anniversary Collaborator beer is now on tap at It's a Beautiful Pizza (3342 SE Belmont) and at the Widmer Gasthaus. This is a very special beer, sort of the tenth anniversary, but brewed a tad late. I've been waiting on it for months, but haven't yet had a pint. With luck, it will start appearing elsewhere soon.

To whet your interest, here is a brief description from a member of the Brew Crew. The beer was made not just with rye, but actual pumpernickel bread. (According to Wikipedia, pumpernickel is a mixture of rye flour and whole rye berries. So, they added bread straight to the mash:

"Twenty 3lb loaves of pumpernickel rye bread were hand-split and added to the mash. True pumpernickel flour (not just standard rye flour) is pretty difficult to find, and Ike had to do some work to find a bakery that could fill the order."

It's a big boy, perfect for the weather--8.3%, 19.5° Plato. Homebrew architect Michel Brown says of it " The finished beer tastes malty, yet hoppy, with nice nutty coffee/chocolatey/herbal flavors and aromas from the bread. The alcohol is hidden nicely without any harshness or warming being detected."

The Collaborator Project is a joint effort between the Oregon Brew Crew Homebrew Club and the Widmer Brothers. The homebrewers come up with the recipe, and the Widmers step it up to a commercial 10-barrel recipe. And then you can find it on tap around town. Encourage them and go have a pint--